


The Lair

by tishyatrueman



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, One Shot, Protective Oliver Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:55:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22431442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tishyatrueman/pseuds/tishyatrueman
Summary: Felicity getting hurt pushes Oliver to confess his feelings for her.
Relationships: Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 6
Kudos: 182





	The Lair

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is one of my first fanfics! Please let me know if you guys liked it. Thank you for reading <3

As Oliver walked down the steps into the lair, he could hear raised voices. This was becoming more normal with the amount of people going in and out of the lair what with Laurel joining the team and Roy coming back. But this was different. The voices sounded angry and that was new. He paused on the staircase out of sight of the inhabitants of the lair. He didn’t like eavesdropping on his team, but he also knew that as soon as he came into sight, they would clam up- especially if the topic was Felicity. 

After Sladegate (which was what Felicity had dubbed the experience despite Oliver’s disapproval of her naming their missions - though when had that ever stopped her?), these clandestine conversations without Oliver had become more frequent. Oliver knew that it was centered around his confession-not-confession to Felicity. As per usual, he had taken the cowardly way out and not come out with his real feelings when she had complimented his ‘acting’.

He had received an earful from Dig about playing with Felicity’s feelings. But Oliver’s emotions were at war- his obvious (according to him) love for and desire to be with her versus his debilitating fear of her getting hurt for being with him. The confession, which was not a ruse, of course, had happened because of both his fear and his love. At that moment, Oliver was just scared that he was never going to be able to tell her that he loved her. Oliver was brought out of his thoughts by Felicity’s loud voice, which rarely made an appearance.

“That’s enough guys. I’m telling you to leave this alone. I can handle it. '' Although her voice was firm and angry, Oliver could tell that she was shaken. Something had happened. 

“I don’t know how you can expect to just leave this alone. Especially if Oliver gets to--” Dig said

“And that’s why Oliver is not going to know.” Felicity said. Well, that was debatable.

Oliver finally entered their line of sight into the lair. As expected, Roy and Diggle walked away from Felicity’s desk as she busied herself with her computers. 

“Roy, Dig, Patrol” Oliver ordered. Everyone in the lair looked at him questioningly. Oliver took every opportunity to avoid being alone with Felicity in the past few weeks after Sladegate. He knew if another tense moment came up, he would end up admitting his feelings to her. And he was anxious about what would come after that -he couldn’t put her in danger but he couldn’t be away from her. There were just too many emotions for him to handle. Of course, Felicity knew nothing of his inner turmoil. According to her, he had used her feelings for him against Slade and saw her nothing more than a valued partner in his crusade. 

Dig knew his avoidance tactics but instead of saying anything, chose to give disapproving glares. But tonight, Oliver was more concerned about what had happened to her than his contradictory feelings. 

When they realized that Oliver was not giving an explanation, Dig and Roy geared up and headed out the door. Felicity continued to work on her code. Their current long-term mission was bringing down a suspected trafficking ring run by a shady businessman and Felicity was working on hacking into the company’s network to see if there was anything suspicious. 

Oliver dragged one of the rolly-chairs and sat next to her. Felicity slowly turned towards him and asked “You need help with something Oliver?” 

“How's the coding coming along?” Oliver asked, trying to find a natural way to start a conversation. He realized it had been a while since he actually had a one-on-one conversation with Felicity, even about work. 

“It’s going okay. Should be able to crack it in another hour or so” She replied, puzzled. Oliver never supervised her work. 

“Okay good good” Oliver said. 

“Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about Oliver?” Felicity asked, ‘“Let me guess. Is this about what you overheard Dig and me talking?” 

Oliver looked up surprised. Felicity sighed and continued “come on Oliver. I know you’ve been avoiding me and the only reason you’re going to talk to me is if you think I need protection which means you overheard us talking. Plus, you always come to the lair at the same time so I know you would have been entering when we were talking” 

Oliver was struck again at how much she knew him and how much she observed.

She continued “ I don’t need your protection Oliver. I can take care of myself, so you don't need to worry. Go out and patrol” With that she turned away from him and went back to coding. 

Oliver took a deep breath, rolled his chair closer to her, held the arms of her chair and turned her around to face him. 

Felicity exasperatedly said “Oliver. He barely hurt me. The bruises will disappear in a few days. And I’ve already told HR”. 

Oliver froze. “Bruises?” 

“I thought you overheard me telling Dig” 

“No, I came in towards the end” he said quickly “Felicity, who hurt you?” 

“Great. Did I just threaten Dig and Roy not to say anything and then went ahead and told you myself? Wow they’re going to really find this hilarious. I should have known when you didn’t immediately overreact. See this is --” 

As much as Oliver loved her rambles, he was shaking with anger at the thought that someone had put their hands on Felicity. 

“Fe-li-ci-ty. What. Happened.” he bit out, interrupting her. 

She took a long breath “So you know how I’m working with Wayne Industries on the joint applied science project for the company based in Moscow?

Oliver nodded, wishing she would get to the point faster because his fingers were itching to put an arrow in someone 

“We have a meeting every Thursday with a representative from Wayne and from Moscow. At today’s meeting, the Russian representative didn’t show up to the meeting. The Wayne guy said that he had gotten a message saying he wouldn’t be coming today which was weird because the Russian company is our primary client so all communication needs to go through us. But I didn’t think it was a big deal” 

Oliver already didn’t like where this was going. 

“ Anyway half way through the meeting, he shut the door of the conference room saying he needed to discuss something in private’ and I don’t want to get into details because I know you will definitely overreact but essentially his ‘private discussion’ included trying to pervily put his hands on me, which prompted me to kick him where the sun doesn't shine and then he shoved me into the wall” She finished the last part very quickly hoping he wouldn't really notice. 

Oliver was no longer looking at her. He clenched and unclenched his fist. Felicity put her hand on his arm to calm him down. Neither of them had been initiating much physical contact with each other for a while now. So, her action made him look up at her. 

“Oliver… like I said, I’m not seriously hurt. And I’ve talked to HR. Apparently Wayne industries has had problems with him in the past.”

Oliver finally spoke “let me get this straight. This guy tried to sexually assault you. Then he shoved you into a wall. And you didn’t think this wasn’t serious enough to tell me?” 

Had their relationship deteriorated so much because of him that she didn’t even feel like she could tell him these things?

Felicity sighed “There is nothing you could do Oliver.” 

“Even if I couldn’t do anything, which I assure you I can do lots of things, you didn’t want to just talk to me about it? Tell me what's going on in your life?”

“Well you’re not exactly available to have conversations about life with, Oliver. You run out to patrol as soon as you come to the lair and you’ve made it pretty clear you want to keep our relationship professional so I’m just trying to respect that” She said, the hurt clearly evident in her voice. 

Immediately, as if being struck by lightning, Oliver came to a realization. Bad things could happen to Felicity whether she was with him or not. She could get hit by a bus, fall sick, or like now, get assaulted by some bastard. Oliver had a choice- be with her and protect her or push her away and live unhappily while she was also unhappy. 

“Felicity. I didn’t lie” he said. 

“What?”

“I didn’t lie when I said I loved you in the mansion” 

Felicity could hear her own heart pounding. 

“Sorry I must have misheard but did you just say you--”

“I love you. I’ve always loved you. And I’m so sorry for saying I didn’t and avoiding you. I was just scared” 

Felicity wanted to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. 

“Wha- why .I don’t have any words” she said. 

“Well that would be a first” Oliver said, smiling. 

“Why are you telling me this now?” She asked, still in disbelief. Maybe he had a concussion from his last mission?

“I.. can’t see you hurt. But I’ve realized I can’t control everything that happens in your life - like this guy and it doesn’t even have anything to do with the Arrow work. I want to be there and protect you but I also want to be happy and I know there is no possibility of me being happy without you”

Felicity slowly smiled. “Took you long enough,” she said before leaning forwards, wrapping her arms around his neck and capturing his lips with hers. 

Oliver’s hand went down her side and Felicity flinched. He immediately stopped “what's wrong?” he asked.

“Sorry. That's where I have the bruises” she said. A dark look came over Oliver’s face. It was the look before he put in an arrow in someone.

“I’m going to kill him” He almost growled. 

“You’re not going to do anything.” Felicity said, firmly. 

Oliver started to argue “Do you expect me to do nothing when this guy put his --” 

“Oliver. I’ve already complained to Mr. Wayne, who is very nice by the way and he fired him immediately. And I transferred half his wealth to charities for survivors of sexual assault” 

“You’re remarkable” Oliver said, pride evident in his voice 

“Thank you for remarking on it. Plus, we do owe him for finally getting some sense into your head” she said and launched herself at him once again.


End file.
